I've realised over the last few years that I am something of a big fan of Clint Eastwood. Of course, I had seen several of his films over a long period and liked them enough but it wasn't until quite recently that I realised just how many very good films he was associated with and how few below par ones did he ever make. I think the problem might have been that Eastwood is such a genuinely iconic actor, chiefly on account of his appearances in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy and the Dirty Harry series and because of this it sometimes makes it a little hard to see the wood for the trees. The truth is that Eastwood has forged one of the very best careers in cinema and not only as a movie star but also, and probably most impressively, as an extremely good director too. Again, it's quite easy to forget that he has been directing prolifically since 1971 when he made his debut behind the camera with the excellent psycho thriller Play Misty for Me. This film looks at his life in cinema from his early appearances in 50's b-movies and support role in the TV series 'Rawhide', via his excursion to Italy in the 60's to make three classic spaghetti westerns with Leone and his subsequent return to Hollywood where he forged a notable career as actor/director is a series of mainly very interesting films.
The documentary only goes as far as 1999; of course Eastwood still had some serious movie highlights beyond this point so the story isn't definitive. Nevertheless, it covers a lot of ground pretty well, with a decent amount of time spent on his key works, as well as strong focus on less well-known but very personal works like Bird (1988). There is no real focus on his personal life; the coverage just looks at his career in film and TV. But this is okay, as Eastwood is a private man away from the screen and it also allows for more focus on his cinematic output which really is the real objective in the first place. The film is made up of on-set footage, film clips and interviews with actors who worked alongside him including rare footage from the likes of Leone. There are always going to be favourite films you would wish more focus was made of but I though the balance was pretty good on the whole and it all adds up to a pretty informative piece that does its subject proud.